Beneath the Backbone of the World by Ryan Hall

Author:Ryan Hall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press

Unlike Stevens and Cumming, the Blackfoot did not see the treaty as a precursor to widespread settlement. Though the Blackfoot were surely aware of the momentous changes happening elsewhere in the West, they had seen no indication that the northwest plains was on the verge of similar tumult. “The Blackfeet say they are a great and powerful people, but the whites are few and feeble,” reported their government agent a few years later. “If the white men are so numerous, why is it the same ones come back to the country year after year, with rarely an exception?” Agents pleaded with their superiors to fund a delegation of Blackfoot chiefs to travel east, but they declined. Blackfoot people were not ignorant of events beyond their homelands. Medicine Snake Woman, for example, had made several trips between her husband’s hometown of Peoria, Illinois, and Fort Benton over the years. But the Blackfoot recognized that a long distance separated them from the whites’ cities and knew that the Americans had little power over them. Indeed, whites on the northwest plains had always seemed few and feeble when compared with the Blackfoot, and the treaty offered serious benefits in the present.35

The 1855 treaty council also bolstered peace and reinforced Blackfoot leadership in similar ways to fur trade interactions. During Stevens’s first visit in 1853, he distributed $600 in gifts to Blackfoot chiefs, including the Piikani leaders Little Dog and Lame Bull. When the Blackfoot arrived at the council grounds in 1855, Stevens and Cumming piled $10,000 worth of goods within view of the council and promised a similar yearly windfall for the next decade. As at fur trading posts, band chiefs carefully mediated the distribution of these gifts, receiving the goods directly from officials before dispersing them among individual families. In following years, agents would ask the civil chiefs of each band to inform the officials of the number of families in each band, then to distribute the goods themselves. Careful adherence to this principle helped to fortify and elevate the position of chiefs. The distribution of gifts strengthened Blackfoot chiefs and demonstrated their ability to extract concessions from outsiders. The treaty conferred a new source of individual power and influence.36

The treaty’s annuity goods provided more peace of mind for the assembled chiefs. If bison should become scarce for any reason, the government’s promised annuity distributions would provide some insurance and stability. Although Blackfoot leaders showed limited interest in farming themselves, the establishment of a government farm and mission could also provide an emergency source of horses and food if necessary. The treaty thus provided increased security to the Blackfoot in the face of inevitable hardships. Leaders most likely saw the treaty as an opportunity to alleviate potential pressures, provide increased security, and maintain important relationships. Stevens offered to broker an already-desired peace with their neighbors, strengthen the power of chiefs, and provide a yearly windfall of goods, all in exchange for seemingly minor concessions. The Blackfoot chiefs who assembled at the mouth of the Judith in 1855 foresaw mostly positive results for their people.

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